[Church of England] Leaders representing most of the UK’s mainstream churches have today called for repentance over the prevailing ‘shrug-culture’ towards climate change.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres who is chair of the Church of England’s national environmental campaign, Shrinking the Footprint joined other leaders to sign Operation Noah’s Ash Wednesday Declaration.
A short public service of prayer and dedication to launch the Declaration will be held at St Mary-Le-Bow, Cheapside (5pm Ash Wednesday 22 Feb), and at numerous churches around the country.
‘Traditionally, Christians commit themselves to repentance and renewed faith in Jesus Christ on Ash Wednesday,’ said David Atkinson, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark. ‘We must live out that faith in relation to our damaging consumer economy, over-dependence on fossil fuels and the devastation we, as a species, are inflicting on God’s world. We believe that responsible care for God’s creation is foundational to the Gospel and central to the church’s mission.’
The Declaration, also signed by Most Rev Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, is framed around seven biblical themes and argues that, to be a Christian is to accept the call to radical discipleship and to work through the implications for church life of a real change in lifestyle.
Mary Grey, Emeritus Professor of Theology at the University of Wales, believes the Declaration – subtitled ‘Climate Change and the Purposes of God: a call to the Church’ – comes at a key moment.
‘A second Earth Summit is being prepared and the world seems apathetic towards the real threat to all planetary life,’ said Professor Grey.
Bishop David, who leads Operation Noah’s theological think tank, points to specific, historical confessions calling the church back to its biblical and theological foundations – notably, the Barmen Declaration of the confessing church in Nazi Germany.
‘Various confessions also addressed apartheid in South Africa,’ he said. ‘We believe that this is a time of urgency for the church. The threat of runaway climate change is the most significant moral question facing us today.’
Perhaps it’s time to recognize that the scandals involving so-called climate change specialists, coupled with the dicey nature of computer models employed to make a point, inability to differentiate between weather and climate, and blaming cold weather on global warming — excuse me, “climate change”, — the hypocritical use of “carbon offsets” and other credibity problems have resulted in a “shrug” attitude of the general public towards the subject.
Yawn.
Perhaps it’s time to recognize that …
There are people trawling the web for anything on climate change so that they can plant the seeds of doubt.
Anyone who doubts the reality of climate change should compare old maps of the Arctic ice extent with current extent as seen from space. The waters of the Kara Sea were once open enough for navigation for only about 3 months at most. As I write these words the Kara sea is almost ice free in winter. No models! No projections! No faith needed even: just look.
http://lance.nasa.gov/imagery/rapid-response/
“The threat of runaway climate change is the most significant moral question facing us today”
There is another question: ‘why would any rational and caring person try to obscure the fact of climate change, a reality backed by the eye-witness evidence of botanists, geologists, cryologists, meteorologists, farmers, civil engineers etc., etc. ?’
I notice that, consistent with current man-made “climate change” rhetoric, responders are avoiding the term “global warming” which went out of fashion when the U.S. and the U.K. had a number of very cold and snowy winters. Others may recall the dire forecasts from climate experts of the “Pending Ice Age” which graced the cover of Newsweek not so long ago. Most of all I should have remembered that the reason why I usually decline to post on blogs is the demonization of persons who differ from the politically-correct view, in this case as not being “rational and caring”. Not even a website affiliated with the Church is free of that unfortunate afflication.
There’s one way to settle the issue, follow the ice. See what the ice and glaciers are doing worldwide. The message from ice and glaciers worldwide is that we are experiencing devastating global warming and climate change. If a glacier has been around for thousands of years and it is disappearing then that is much more significant than a few big snowfalls in one winter! If you’re so called cold winter somewhere on the planet is so significant then why aren’t new glaciers forming and the old ones making a come back? But we know we will continue to see paid global warming deniers comment on sites until the day when the most powerful industry in the world (fossil fuels) is replaced by renewable energy! Go Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Electric Vehicles!
There is no controversy or name change over global warming and climate change. This is completely made up by denialists. Climate change was actually first with the paper ‘the carbon dioxide theory of climate change’ in 1934. Facts are that the average increase in temperature (global warming) causes climate change as the atmosphere, oceans and land heat at different rates, and it is their interactions that create weather and climate.
The changes are not uniform (this is simplistic understanding of the topic), for instance the Arctic is warming twice as fast, hence other areas are cooling as ocean currents and wind patterns shift.
Kudos to the Church of England for showing exceptional leadership on this matter of critical importance to the human race and future generations.
The Church of England is flying in the face of biblical teaching, I’m afraid…
http://www.globalreport2010.com/globalwatch03feb12.pdf